Cluster lamp-socket.



No. 818,750. PATENTBD APR. 24, 1906.

J. H. DALE. CLUSTER LAMP SOCKET. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 4, IBM.

(1144) auto c PATENT JOHN HENRY DALE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CLUSTER LANIP SOCKET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 24,1906.

Application filed February 4, 1905. Serial No. 244.093-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN HENRY DALE, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city oi New York, in the borough of Manhattan and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements 'in ()luster Lamp-Sockets, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to cluster-sockets for incandescent electric lamps, and comprises an improvement upon that type of cluster-socket described in United States Patent No. 757,441, issued to me April 19, 1904. The cluster described in said patent consists, essentially, of a metal disk serving as a supporting-base, a hemispherical cap or casing having side openings for the entrance of the lamp-bases and positive and negative contact-plates suitably insulated from each other and contained in and supported by the cap through the medium of Edison threaded shells attached to one of said contact-plates and Edison insulating-bushings screwed upon said shells and entering the openings in the cap. in making up this cluster for five or six lights some difiiculty has been experienced in assembling the parts by reason of the fact that the Edison shells, which are rigidly attached to the contact-plate and project partially throu h the openings in the cap, bind against the ed es of said openings and interfere with the a'justment or placement of the parts in the cap. in a two or three light cluster the parts assemble readilygr'or the shell oi one socket may be passed a considerable distance through the opening in the cap, so that the other shells can be easily alined with their respective openings; but, as before stated, this cannot be done so readily with the four, five, or six light cluster. The present invention provides for a construction or mounting of the threaded shells upon the contact-plate in a flexible manner, so that when the cluster 15 assembled the shells can be swung out oi their normal position to admit them easily into the various openings in the cap.

it is a further object of the invention to cheapen the cost of manufacture of these clusters; and with these objects in view the invention consists of the details of construc ti on hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a four-light cluster-socket with the lamps in place and the parts of the fixture in section. Fig. 2 is a plan of the fixture with the base or cover plate removed and with only two oi the lamps in position, and Fig. 3 is a central section of the mechanism inside of the cap or casing.

.1 'ndicates a base or support for the cluster, being at the same time a cover to exclude dust. It has a central threaded orifice 2 for attachment to a pipe or conduit through which the two wires of the circuit lead into the fixture. has a ieripheral flange 3, provided with slots 4 of a ayonet-joint.

5 is a ca or casing shaped hemispherically and provi( ed with mwardly-projecting pins 6 near its upper edge to cooperate with the bayonet-slots and serve as a ready means for connecting and disconnecting the cap to and from the base. 7

Within the cap and entirely independent of the base is a block of insulating material, such as porcelain, 7. This is a comparatively thick disk havinga central projection 8 on its upper side provided with a deep countersink 9. To the opposite faces of this porcelain block are secured two metal plates 10 and 11, the plate 10 being in the form of a ring, so as to pass over the projection 8 and rest upon the surface of the block. It is firmly secured to the block by three screws 12, which do not pass entirely through the block. The lower plate 11 is similarly fastened to the bottom of the block 7 by screws. (Not shown.) The upper plate carries a binding-screw 13 for one of the line-wires, the other line-wire being connected with plate 11. by means of the central screw 14-, which passes through an axial hole in the block 7 and screws into the plate 11, as shown, while the head of the screw becomes housed in the countersink 9 and is shielded from contact with the wire attached to screw 13 by the wall of projection 8, surrounding the screw.

Plate 10 is formed integrally with a mum ber of pairs of arms 15 15, 16 16, 17 17, and 18 18, there being one pair for each lamp for which the fixture is adapted. These arms are twisted to occupy planes at right angles to that. of the plate to which they are at tachcd, and the members of each pair project beyond the ed e of the block 7 and are separated sufficient y to admit between them the inner end of" a threaded sleeve 19, known as the Edison sleeve and being a familiar part of the Edison incandescent lamp socket. The sleeve is secured to the pair of This base is a disk in form and arms by means of rivets or screws 20, which pass through the sleeve on a diametrical hue, and thus form a pivot on which the sleeve can swing in a vertical direction. The inner end of the threaded sleeve is entirely open and unobstructed, the partial web usually extending across the inner end for fastenin screws being omitted. The lower inner si e of each sleeve is partially cut away, as indicated at-21, to separate the sleeve from the periphery of plate 11,which when the cluster.

is in operation is of opposite polarity to the shells. Plate 11 is formed with a number of upwardly turned tongues 22 which rest against the periphery of the block 7 and terminate slightly above the pivotal axes of the shells. One of these tongues is rovided for each lamp, and they occura't t e center of the open inner end of the sleeves and constitute the contacts for the center terminals of the Edisonlamp-base.

' The structure illustrated in section in Fig. 3 is assembled in the cap 5 by passing the various shells 19 through the o enings 5* in the cap. To facilitate getting t e structure into place, one or more of the shells 19 can be tilted into the positions indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 3, which will readily admit them into the o enings. Having placed all of the shells in t e openings, the structure is rigidly secured to the cap by screwing over the outer end of each shell one ofthe well-known Edison insulating-bushings 23. These bushings have externa flanges 24, which in bearing against the exterior cap when screwed home causethe shells to be swung upontheir pivots into proper alinement. With all of the bushings screwed ti htly in place the structure is I rigid and capab e of supporting the lamps.

When the bases of t e lamps are screwed into position, the threaded sleeve on. the lamp mechanically and electrically engages 'the threaded shell, and the metal button at the center of the base of the lam electrically engages the tongue 22, presente at the inner end of the shell. It will thus be seen that when the current flows it passes from one of the bindingscrewssay 13throu h the plate 10, the arms 15 16,&c.,the threa ed she1ls19, the filaments of the lamps, the tongues 22, the plate 11, and the binding-screw 14. Thus all of the lamps are connected in multiple.

For a series connection of the lamps it is only. necessary to split ,up the two plates 10. and 11' and connect them in succession with the lamps and each other inamanner well-known to the wiremans art.

While I have illustrated a cluster adapted for four lamps, it is obvious that substan-' tially the same structure may be used for two, three, five, andflpossibly six lights, it being necessary only to increase the numlfers of pairs of arms 15 16, &c., and the corresponding airs of tongues 22. To accommodate the farger number of lamps, the arms15 16,

&c., may be'secured to the inside of the shell instead or the outside, thus bringing them nearer together.

The broad idea of flexibly mounting the threaded shell of an Edison socket so that it can be alined with a casin or an opening therein either when the insu atin bushing is" screwed into place between the s ell and the casing or when the lamp is, passed through the opening in the casing and screws into t e shell is, I believe, a novel idea, and I therefore claim the same herein Without reference to its application to a cluster-socket, although it is in a cluster-socket where I have found it most useful, as above described. In an ordinary sin le.Edison socket it would sometimes be 0 advantage to have .the threaded shell flexibly mounted, as they are not always found to be actuallyin line with themetal ic casing of the socket, and Whenthe bushing is screwed into place on such an imperfect socket the pressure exerted by the bushing in forcing the shell and easing into line puts a constant strain upon the various parts, which is likely at any time to break them or otherwise injure the socket.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. An incandescent-lamp socket, comprising a threaded contact-shell flexibly supported upon the socket.

2. An incandescent-lamp socket, comprising a threaded contact-shell pivotally supported upon the socket 3. An incandescent-lamp socket, comprising anexternal casing, a threaded contactshell inside of said casing, a support within said casing to which said contact-Shell is ivotally connected and an insulating-bus 'ng interposed between the casing and the shell.

4. incandescent-lamp socket comprising an external casing having .a plurality of openings therein, a sup ort located inside of I said casing, and a plura 'ty of threaded con tact-shells arranged within said openings and flexibly connected with said support.

5. An incandescent-lamp socket having a plurality of threaded contact-shells and a sinle su port therefor to which the shells are 'rect y pivoted.

6. A cluster-socket for incandescent lamps, comprising an external casing havin openings for the lamp-bases, a metallic p ate insiole of said casing, a plurality of threaded shells pivotally connected with said plate and respectively presented at the openings in the casing to receive the lamp-bases and a center contact for'leach shell.

.7. A cluster-socket for electric lamps, com- "pP'lslllgan external casin having openings for the lamp-bases, a meta plate therein'having arms, a plurality of threaded. contactsleeves pivotally' connected with said arms and respectively projectinginto the openi s of the casing and center contacts correspofiing to each of the shells.

9. In an incandescent-lamp socket, a casing hevin holes therein, bushin s in said holes, threat ed shells within said hushings, and a pivoted to said shells and supported 1 8. A cluster-socket for electric lamps, coml prising an external casing having openings l for the leinp bases, a block of insulating niaterial contained within said casing, two metal 1' support plates attached to said block and insulated l thereby. from each other thereby, a plurality ofl In witness whereof I subscribe my signathreaded shells pivoted to one of said plates, 1 ture in the presence of two witnesses. and a plurality of tongues carried by the JOHN HENRY DALE. other plate, said shells and tongues oonstitut- WVitnesses I FRANK S. OBER,

ing the contacts for the lamps, substantially WALDo M. CHAPIA as described. 

